Indonesia sentencing sets dangerous precedent

The Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat condemns in the very strongest terms the sentencing of Mr Deden Sudjana to six months imprisonment by a District Court in Indonesia.

In February Mr Sudjana was one of the many victims of a brutal assault by a mob of over 1,000 people that shocked the entire world. During the attack 3 Ahmadi Muslims were martyred in the most vicious and brutal way imaginable.

Only 12 of the perpetrators of the February attack were charged by the police and each received very negligible sentences. On the other hand Mr Sudjana, who did nothing but defend himself, his fellow Ahmadi Muslims and their mosque has been sentenced to six months imprisonment.

The Press Secretary of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat, Abid Khan said:

“The sentencing of Deden Sudjana to six months imprisonment is an affront to all forms of decency. It is clearly a travesty of justice. Rightly this decision has been condemned by media and human rights agencies across the world.

Let it be absolutely clear that neither Deden Sudjana nor any other Ahmadi Muslim provoked in any way the brutal assault in Banten that took place last February. That attack was caused only by the fanaticism and cruelty of over a thousand extremists determined to see the blood of innocent and peace loving Ahmadi Muslims.

This decision sets an extremely dangerous precedent, whereby the Courts have taken away the right of an Ahmadi Muslim to defend himself or his property even when faced with a violent and brutal assault, whilst on the other hand it gives a free hand to extremists to continue their wave of attacks against the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat in Indonesia.”

The Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat hereby seeks the release of Deden Sudjana immediately and requests the international community to take urgent notice of this case.

Furthermore, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat condemns in the strongest terms another attack on one of its mosques in South Sulawesi on Sunday.